Inflation
Don calls on individuals, firms to embrace agriculture to further reduce inflation
NAN-HE-1
Inflation
By Simon Akoje
Lagos, March 20, 2017 (NAN) A don, Dr Bright Erega, has called on individuals and private firms to invest their idle funds in agriculture and its value chain to further push down inflation rate.
Erega, a senior lecturer in the Department of Economics, University of Lagos, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.
He said that all Nigerians must be involved in the efforts to achieve food security, one of the determinants of inflation.
Erega said that the recent rise in crude oil prices was also responsible for the reduction in the inflation figures as the country now had more funds to meet pressing obligations.
According to him, this is the time for all to be involved in finding solutions to high inflation rate.
“The country cannot continue to be an import-dependent nation; there is the need to change this trend if the rate of inflation must go down.
“We must create more business friendly terrain that will encourage private investors to plough their funds into agriculture and its value chain to attain food security.
“Since the cost of food is one of the factors pushing up inflation, encouraging all into agriculture will create cheaper farm products.
“This is easy to achieve because of the vast arable land and the country’s population,” he said.
Erega also advised the government to sustain it current efforts to fix the transportation infrastructure as it had the capacity to bring down inflation rate.
He said that there were farm products rotting away in the hinterland due to poor transportation network.
NAN reports that the inflation rate fell from 18.72 per cent in January to 17.78 per cent in February.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, the February figure is the lowest in the last 15 months. (NAN)
STA/JI/TA
Editing by Joseph Idika/Tajudeen Atitebi